This invention is directed to a two-piece pin socket carrier system, which, by the use of a pair of interfitting drawn metal members, offers considerable cost saving advantages over systems constructed of single machined parts.
The desirable use of pin sockets for mounting to planar electronic devices, such as printed circuit boards (PCB), has been known for years. As a result of the rapid growth of the electronic industry, it was necessary to develop cost-cutting measures to utilize socket carrier techniques for group or mass mounting to PCB.
One such mass mounting technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,938, and its reissue version, RE 32,540. The patentee proposes to mount the sockets on a carrier strip, where such strip may be readily removed after mounting of the sockets to the PCB. Specifically, the one-piece, machined socket thereof has a circumferential V-shaped groove provided in the head of the socket adjacent to the entrance opening of the socket. The groove is sized in relation to an opening in the carrier strip such that the socket can be snapped into a carrier strip hole and retained on the carrier strip. A plurality of strip-mounted sockets can then be installed into cooperative mounting openings of a circuit board and after soldering of the sockets into the board, the flexible strip may be peeled from the soldered sockets.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,031 represents a further approach to a mass mounting technique utilizing a carrier strip for the sockets, where the sockets each include retention elements on the socket body to retain the socket on the carrier strip and which can also be employed for locking the socket into a mounting hole of a circuit board. The sockets are cold formed or machined to have a plurality of barbs each with a ramp surface to facilitate installation of the sockets into cooperative holes in the carrier strip, and an edge portion for retaining the socket once installed on the carrier strip.
Each of these prior art systems, though offering effective techniques for mass mounting of sockets to a planar electronic device, are expensive. The present invention offers a more cost effective system by the use of a pair of drawn metal members. The manner by which this is achieved will become apparent in the description which follows, particularly when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.